WHAT IS Environment Pollution? Environmental pollution is a word that indicates to all the ways that human activities harm the natural ecology. Most people have witnessed environmental pollution in the form of an open rubbish tip or a factory pouring out black smoke. However, pollution can also be invisible, odourless and tasteless. Some kinds of pollution do not actually dirty the land, air, or water but they reduce the quality of life for people and other living things. For example, noise from traffic and machinery can be considered forms of pollution.
Environmental pollution is one of the most serious problems facing humanity and other life forms on our planet today. Badly polluted air can harm crops and cause life-threatening illnesses. Some air pollutants have reduced the capacity of the atmosphere to filter out the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. Many scientists believe that these and other air pollutants have begun to change climates around the world. Water pollution and soil pollution threaten the ability of farmers to grow enough food to feed the world’s population. Ocean pollution endangers many marine beings.
Many people think of air, water, and soil pollution as distinct forms of pollution. However, each of the parts of an environment – air, water, and soil–depends upon the others and upon the plants and animals living within the environment. The relationships among all the living and nonliving things in an environment make up an ecological system, called an ecosystem. All the ecosystems of the earth are connected. Thus, pollution that seems to affect only one part of the environment may also affect other parts. For example, dirty smoke from a power plant might appear to harm only the atmosphere. But rain can wash some harmful chemicals in the smoke out of the sky and onto land or into waterways.
Some pollution comes from one specific point or location, such as a sewage pipe spilling dirty water into a river. Such pollution is called point source pollution. Other pollution comes from large areas. Water can run off farmland and carry pesticides and fertilizers into rivers. Rain water can wash petrol, oil, and salt from roads and car parks into the wells that supply drinking water. Pollution that comes from such large areas is called non-point source pollution.
Nearly everyone would like to have pollution reduced environment. Unfortunately, most of the pollution that now threatens the health of our planet comes from products that many people want and need. For example, scooters provide the convenience of personal transportation, but they create a large percentage of the world’s air pollution. Factories make products that people use and enjoy, but industrial processes can also pollute. Pesticides and fertilizers aid in growing large quantities of food, but they also poison the soil and waterways.
To end or greatly decrease pollution, people would have to reduce the use of scooters /cars and other modern conveniences, and some factories would have to close or change production methods. Because most people’s jobs are dependent on industries that contribute to environmental pollution, shutting down these industries would increase unemployment. In addition, if farmers suddenly stopped using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, there would be less food to feed the people of the world.
Over time, however, pollution can be reduced in many ways without seriously disrupting people’s lives. For example, governments can pass laws that encourage businesses to adopt less polluting methods of operation. Scientists and engineers can develop products and processes that are cleaner and safer for the environment. And individuals and groups of people around the world can themselves find ways to reduce environmental pollution.
